Market Wrap, Oct 13: SENSEX falls 174 pts, NIFTY50 ends at 25,227 level; VIX up 9%, Tata Motors top loser

Snapping a two-day winning streak, Indian equity benchmark indices ended lower on Monday, October 13, despite recovering from the day’s lows, as weakness in IT and FMCG stocks weighed on sentiment.

Geopolitical tensions and fresh tariff threats from former US President Donald Trump toward China further kept investors on edge. The equity market across Asia remained subdued on Monday.

Dragged by losses in Infosys, Wipro, Mphasis, TCS, and Persistent Systems, the Nifty IT index slipped over 1% during intraday trade. The broader market, however, ended on a mixed note.

Globally, all the indices in Asia were closed lower on Monday amid renewed fears of a trade war between the US and China, after President Donald Trump threatened to impose fresh triple-digit tariffs on Chinese imports.

South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.73%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.65%, Taiwan Weighted declined 1.41%, and Singapore's Straits Times fell 0.85%. The Shanghai Composite also dropped 0.19% at close.

On Wall Street, the main US benchmarks ended sharply lower on Friday after Trump's new tariff threat. The S&P 500 dropped 2.71%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 3.56%, and the Dow Jones fell 1.9%.

According to exchange data, on Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹459.20 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹1,707.83 crore worth of equities.

As many as 3,202 stocks traded on the NSE on Monday. Out of this, only 1,118 advanced, and 1,975 declined, while 109 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of declines.

A total of 87 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 85 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 87 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 81 touched their lower circuit bands on Monday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹459.62 lakh crore at the end of the session.

The volatility index India VIX surged 8.95% to end at 11.01 levels.

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index slipped 0.17% to end at the 18,101.75 level, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at the 58,762.35 level, rising 0.23%.

Nifty FMCG (-0.90%), Nifty Consumer Durables (-0.84%), Nifty IT (-0.78%), Nifty Metal (-0.43%), and Nifty Oil & Gas (-0.27%) were the major sectoral laggards.

Meanwhile, Nifty PSU Bank (+0.24%), Nifty Media (+0.11%), and Nifty Realty (+0.02%) were the only sectors to end in the green.

Tata Motors emerged as the top loser, slipping 2.2%, followed by Infosys (-1.49%), Wipro (-1.43%), Hindustan Unilever (-1.28%), and Nestle India (-1.19%).

On the other hand, Adani Ports (2.1%), Bajaj Auto (1.5%), Bajaj Finance (1.48%), Shriram Finance (1.2%), and Bajaj Finserv (0.98%) were the top gainers on the 50-share index.